UHW apologises after man dies from reaction to antibiotic

An inquest into the death of a 41-year-old man, who died due to an allergic reaction to an antibiotic that he was given at University Hospital Waterford (UHW), has returned a verdict of medical misadventure.

The inquest heard that prior to his death, the partner of Nicholas Kennedy had informed medical staff that she suspected he was allergic to the antibiotic.

The Coroner for Waterford City, John P Goff, was told that by not connecting Mr Kennedy's symptoms to that of an allergic reaction, he was administered the same antibiotic again, which led to severe brain damage.

Mr Kennedy was admitted to UHW on Christmas Eve 2023. He died in the intensive care unit six days later.

His mother Kathleen told today's inquest at Waterford Courthouse that her son was "a tall, strong man in the prime of his life".

He worked full-time on his family's farm, and was a father of three young children.

Ms Kennedy continued that the family are "completely devastated" by Mr Kennedy's sudden death.

She explained that Christmas is especially hard, as it was around that time that Mr Kennedy died.

Paul McGuinn, the barrister representing the hospital, read out a letter sent by the Chief Executive of UHW, Ben O'Sullivan, on 10 June 2026.

In the letter, Mr O'Sullivan said he wanted to "sincerely apologise" to Mr Kennedy's family.

He said: "We should have administered a non-penicillin-based antibiotic.

"A number of recommendations have been made," Mr O'Sullivan added.

According to the post-mortem examination report, which was read into the record at the inquest, Mr Kennedy died due to "anaphylaxis", meaning a severe allergic reaction.

The inquest heard that on 23 December 2023, Mr Kennedy went to his own GP complaining of flu-like symptoms.

He was prescribed steroids, a cough bottle and an antibiotic called Augmentin.

That evening, about an hour after taking the Augmentin, Mr Kennedy had a seizure that lasted "about 15 seconds," according to his partner, Bernadette Buckley.

Ms Buckley called the emergency services, and Mr Kennedy was taken to the hospital in an ambulance.

According to Ms Buckley, she told the paramedics, the triage nurse who admitted Mr Kennedy and the doctor on-call, Dr Mohammed Kadir, that she suspected Mr Kennedy was having an allergic reaction to Augmentin.

Ms Buckley said that whilst Mr Kennedy was sitting up in the bed, awake and alert, a nurse walked into his room.

Ms Buckley told the inquest that: "She (the nurse) didn't say anything, she didn't acknowledge us. She inserted a syringe into his cannula, and when it was 90% empty, Nicky suddenly asked, 'What's in that?'

"Then a few moments later, he said, 'I have a horrible taste in my mouth' before having a seizure that was much more violent than the first one," Ms Buckley said.

Mr Kennedy never regained consciousness.

The inquest heard that a possible allergic reaction was documented in the notes of both the paramedics and nurses.

Dr Kadir told the inquest that he admitted that he had not read either set of notes before seeing Mr Kennedy in the resuscitation room of the emergency department.

However, both he and his two superiors said that this was a "normal procedure".

'Far too late'

However, Dr Kadir also acknowledged that he knew that Mr Kennedy had suffered a seizure after taking the Augmentin but did not connect the two events at the time.

After consulting with the senior doctor on duty, Dr Kadir suspected Mr Kennedy had a respiratory infection and possibly sepsis and prescribed him Augmentin, which was administered intravenously.

Acting on behalf of Mr Kennedy's family, solicitor Niall Tansey, pointed out that it was "futile" that medical staff would check a patient's medical history for a drug allergy if they would then "brush over" a drug allergy that came to light in the previous "number of hours".

Dr Desmond Fitzgerald, the consultant of emergency medicine at UHW since 2013, read out the results of an external investigation carried out by the HSE.

The inquest heard that after some initial delays in the investigation, the review began in September 2025, which the coroner remarked was "far too late".

The review found that Mr Kennedy's symptoms were "consistent with an allergic reaction" and the "attending doctor did not recognise this."

It found that "an alternative non-penicillin antibiotic should have been administered".

A total of 10 recommendations were made in the report, including that upon any future suspicion of a patient having an allergy, "whether from a nurse, paramedic or indeed the family," it would be treated as an official allergy until otherwise disproven.

Mr Goff recommended that this become a HSE-wide policy to avoid such a tragedy from happening again.

Dr Fitzgerald also pointed out that UHW is the only Model 4 hospital that has only one registrar (senior doctor) working during a night shift.

He explained that smaller Model 3 hospitals often have two registrars.

The registrar on duty on the night Mr Kennedy had the seizure told the court that if he had examined Mr Kennedy himself, he would not have prescribed Augmentin.

However, Dr Fitzgerald pointed out that registrars face a large "cognitive burden" when operating as the sole senior doctor.

He told the inquest that he had asked for additional registrars for the emergency department multiple times since this incident, "but I have been unable to secure funding as recently as six weeks ago".

Mr Goff agreed with the recommendations by both lawyers that this case be treated as an instance of medical misadventure.

He said the main issue was that a "connection was not drawn between the seizure and Augmentin".

He said it was a "tragic case" and that whilst he appreciated the frankness and honesty from the report and the doctors, the delay in publishing it meant "the good has gone out of it".

The coroner then returned a verdict of medical misadventure.

He concluded by speaking directly to Mr Kennedy's family, who were present for the inquest, and said: "You shouldn't have lost your son".